Access arrangement for vertical shafts



Sept. 12, 1967 M. L. LINK ACCESS ARRANGEMENT FOR VERTICAL SHAFTS Filed April 30, l964 Inventor: flaff/Zew Z. Link MQWZ United States Patent 3,340,962 ACCESS ARRANGEMENT FOR VERTICAL SHAFTS Matthew L. Link, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Unarco Industries, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Apr. 30, 1964, Ser. No. 363,821 3 Claims. (Cl. 1873) This invention relates to an access arrangement for vertical shafts, and more particularly, relates to such an arrangement which complies with all fire regulations and fire codes, provides maximum access to a shaft, and reduces the floor space occupied by the shaft.

With prior art arrangements, it is ditficult to gain convenient access to vertical conveyor shafts for cleaning or for repair or maintenance of machinery located therein. For example, conveyors operating in a vertical shaft are usually provided with small service openings in the front side of the shaft at each floor level closed by vertically slidable fire doors, these small openings being necessary *to permit loading and unloading of the conveyor or elevator at each floor level. Such arrangements are well known and are commonly used in hospitals, institutions, etc., to carry food trays and other articles from one floor to the other.

Besides providing for the loading and unloading of the conveyor these small service openings also are sometimes used for maintenance, cleaning and minor repair of the conveyor. However, the thorough cleaning of the shafts and conveyor mechanisms required to meet sanitary requirements when food is being handled and many repair :and maintenance operations cannot be effected through these small service openings.

Therefore, in addition to these service openings, it is necessary to provide larger access openings to permit complete entry of a man into the shaft for maintenance, cleaning and major repairs. Access through these larger openings is normally provided by a walk-in fire door located at either the rear or the side of the vertical shaft. These walk-in doors are usually not conveniently located and, moreover, take up valuable floor space and require the construction of a shaft larger than otherwise would be required.

It is therefore a principal object of my invention to provide an improved access arrangement for vertical shafts containing vertical conveyors or elevators.

It is another object of my invention to provide an improved access arrangement for vertical shafts that requires less space for the shaft while improving the con venience of access.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a double-door arrangement including a large access door with a service opening therein closed by a smaller door located on the front side of the vertical shaft, the large access door providing adequate access to the shaft for cleaning and repair and taking up less floor space for the shaft itself than prior art arrangements.

It is a still further object of my invention to provide a double fire door arrangement on the front side of a vertical shaft which by reason of decreased thickness provides easier loading and unloading of the conveyor through the smaller service openings while still providing fire protection at least equal to prior art constructions.

These and other objects of my invention will be readily apparent from a consideration of the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a portion of a vertical shaft showing the access doors;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the shaft of FIG. 1 taken on the line 2-2 thereof;

3,340,962 Patented Sept. 12, 1967 FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view through one of the doors taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic sectional view through a portion of a building equipped with a conveyor according to the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a vertical shaft indicated generally at 10 is defined by a back wall 12, two side walls 14 and a front wall 16. It will be understood that the shaft extends through several stories of a building and is provided with an opening 20 at each of the floors of the building extending between short side Wall portions 18 forming continuations of the front wall 16 and from the floor level to a desired height for operation. As seen in FIG. 4, the shaft 10 extends through several building floors as shown at 40, and the openings 20 are immediately above the floor levels. Since the construction of the opening and the closures therefor to provide access to the shaft is identical on each of the floors, only one such construction has been shown in detail in the drawings. The walls 12, 14 and 16 are preferably of masonry construction to comply with safety code requirements for fire resistance and are consequently relatively thick as indicated.

A conveyor is mounted in the shaft and, as shown, is of the type including an endless chain 22 carried over sheaves at the upper and lower ends of the shaft so that one flight moves downwardly while the other flight moves upwardly. At periodic spaces in the length of the chain elevator carriages 23 are attached thereto to move with the chain. These carriages may be hinged to the chain to depend therefrom in all positions or could be rigidly attached to the chain if desired to invert on one of the flights. Preferably, however, the carriages are forked units as illustrated which are pivotally attached to the chain so that they can carry a load around either of the sheaves at the top or bottom of the conveyor run without spilling it. It will be understood that any desired type of conveyor, either single or double, could be used.

At each of the floors loading and unloading devices are provided which can deposit a load on the carriers or can remove a load therefrom. Such devices as indicated generally at 24 are adapted to be projected into the paths of travel of the carrier and are sufficiently narrow to pass between the forks thereof. A load to be picked up may be placed upon one of these loading and unloading devices which is then projected into the path of movement of an upwardly traveling carrier with the load being supported on a tray or the like sufliciently wide to be engaged by the forks of the carrier and lifted from the loading and unloading device. For unloading, the device may be again projected into the path of a downwardly traveling carrier to lift a tray or similar load carried by the forks thereof from the carrier so that it can be removed. The loading and unloading devices may, if desired, incorporate conveyor mechanisms which will discharge loads unloaded from the conveyor or which may feed loads into the conveyor to be picked up thereby. Since this loading and unloading mechanism forms no part of the present invention, it will not be described in further detail herein.

The openings 20 at each of the floors are closed according to the present invention by fireproof doors 26 of conventional fireproof construction. These doors, as best seen in section in FIG. 2, are formed of metal inner and outer face panels, the space between which is filled with a heat resistant insulating material such as asbestos, glass fiber or the like. Doors of this type are commonly used for fire resistance and are relatively thin, being on the order of one-half or less of the normal thickness of a masonry wall such as the shaft walls 12 and 14. The doors are hinged on vertical axes to the shaft at the sides of the opening 20 on hinges 28 to swing from a closed position as shown to an open position. When closed, the doors may be securely held in their closed position by a conventional releasable latch 30. It will be seen that when the doors are open wide open access is provided to the interior of the shaft for cleaning or for repair or maintenance operations on the loading and unloading devices or on the conveyor. Preferably, a shelf as shown at 32 extends across the front portion of the shaft to carry the loading and unloading devices and provides a surface upon which a workman may stand for cleaning the shaft or conveyor or performing maintenance or repair operations thereon.

To provide normal movement of material into and from the shaft, each of the doors 26 is formed with a service opening 34 in the central part of the door and registering with the loading and unloading devices 24 respectively. The service openings 34 are normally closed by conventional sliding fire doors 36 which are vertically slidable in tracks 38 carried by the rear surfaces of the main doors 26. While a single service door can be used, the service doors are preferably in pairs as shown, one of which moves upwardly while the other moves downwardly so that the doors are self-counterbalancing.

For all normal uses of the conveyor the large doors 26 remain in their closed and latched position with service access being provided through the openings 34 in these doors by opening and closing the service doors 36 in the usual manner. However, when it is necessary for a workman to obtain access or entry into the shaft for cleaning, maintenance or repair, he can open one or both of the large doors 26 by releasing the latch 30 for that purpose. The doors 26 will provide adequate fire protection, and since they are thinner than the usual masonry shaft the space required for installation of the shaft and conveyor will be reduced. At the same time, access openings remote from the normal service openings such as have heretofore been required are eliminated, thereby facilitating installation of the shaft in buildings while making the cleaning and maintenance operations at least as easy as with conventional structures.

While one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it will be understood that 40 this is illustrative only and is not to be taken as a definition of the scope of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a vertical shaft adapted to extend through several floors of a building and having a relatively large access opening through a wall thereof on each of the floors, and vertically movable conveyor mechanism in the shaft, an access arrangement comprising an access door hinged to the shaft on a vertical axis adjacent to said large access opening for movement from a position closing the opening to an open position providing access to the shaft interior, said access door being substantially coextensive in width with the shaft, the door being formed with a relatively small service opening therethrough, and a movable closure for the service opening carried by the door.

2. In combination with a vertical shaft adapted to extend through several floors of a building and having a relatively large access opening through a wall thereof on each of the floors, and vertically movable conveyor mechanism in the shaft, an access arrangement comprising a pair of access doors hinged on vertical axes at opposite sides of the opening and swingable together to close the opening, each of the access doors being formed with a relatively small service opening, and a closure vertically slidable on each of the access doors for closing the service opening therein.

3. The combination of claim 2 including a vertically movable conveyor in the shaft having two horizontally spaced flights registering with the service openings respectively.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 849,485 4/1907 Metzger.

966,769 8/1910 Rittenhouse 1873 1,565,311 12/1925 Doran 187-4 1,997,060 4/1935 Hirshfeld 1873 2,507,791 5/1950 Kiesling 1873 2,996,322 8/1961 McCellan 10959 EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner.

HUGO O. SCHULZ, Examiner.

H. C. HORNSBY, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A VERTICAL SHAFT ADAPTED TO EXTEND THROUGH SEVERAL FLOORS OF A BUILDING AND HAVING A RELATIVELY LARGE RECESS OPENING THROUGH A WALL THEREOF ON EACH OF THE FLOORS, AND VERTICALLY MOVABLE CONVEYOR MECHANISM IN THE SHAFT, AN ACCESS ARRANGEMENT COMPRISING AN ACCESS DOOR HINGED TO THE SHAFT ON A VERTICAL AXIS ADJACENT TO SAID LARGE ACCESS OPENING FOR MOVEMENT FROM A POSITION CLOSING THE OPENING TO AN OPEN POSITION PROVIDING ACCESS TO THE SHAFT INTERIOR, SAID ACCESS DOOR BEING SUBSTANTIALLY COEXTENSIVE IN WIDTH WITH THE SHAFT, THE DOOR BEING FORMED WITH A RELATIVELY SMALL SERVICE OPENING THERETHROUGH, AND A MOVABLE CLOSURE FOR THE SERVICE OPENING CARRIED BY THE DOOR. 